St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1887-11-10
CURRENT AFFAIRS.
THE SWEDISH NIGHTINGALE.
The Story of the Life of Jennie Lind
GoIdschmidt.

Jennie Lind Goldschmidt, the "Swe-
dish nightingale" of generation ago,
died in London Wednesday, having
failed day by day since suffering
stroke of apoplexy several weeks ago.
The story of her life is thus told by
the Springfield Republican:
For many years Jennie Lind has
been a name of the past her voice
that charmed all hearers is but MEM
DRY of elderly or old people yet she
possesses a fame unique among slug
ers, aud its tradition will be preserved
unspOiled. She began a public career
when a mere child, but her period of
renOwn upon the public stage was
scarcely more than eight years, and
over 20 years ago she appeared in pub
lie for the last time, while for IA years
before she had sung rarely and for
special purposes, usually of charlta-
BILE nature. Her retirement was not
compelled by failure of voice or health,
but was a deliberate renuDciatiOn. She,
like Fannie Kemble, had no love for a
public life, and she was already indie
pendently rich. Her voice was pure
soprano of great range and of unap-
proachable clarity and sweetness, and
so rich and lovely in expression that
one could only think of the singing of
angels as a worthy comparison to hear
her utter the words, 81 know that my
Redeemer liveth," in Handefs sublime
air, was to be raised to the very gates
of heaven. In our time only EuphrO-
syne Parepa has produced anything
like the same impression, and her voice
was not the equal OF jennie LInd's.
The voice of Adelina Patti is not to be
named on the same day with that of
the Swedish Nightingale, to those who
heard the elder singer.
Jennie Lind was born at Stockholm
October 6, 1921. Her parents kept Il
boarding school, and had hard work
to live. A retired actress, Nine Lund-
borg, heard the child sing and intro
duced her to the notice of Lindblad, a
composer and musician whose influence
secured her admission to the cOnserva-
tory when she was nine years old,
where she was taught by PrOfs. CrOlius
and Berg, and OvertaXed her voice so
that three years later she could not
sing a note. At Is, having recovered,
she returned, was presented before the
court, and was engaged at the theatre,
where her presentations of Alice IN
Meyerbeer's "RObert lie Diable" and
Agatha in 'Der Freischutz" aroused
great enthusiasm and made her the
queen of song in Stockholm. Dissatis-
fed, however, with her methods, she
went to Paris in 1S4l to study with the
celebrated Garcia, under whose train
ing her voice gained greatly in t1eXibil-
ity Meyerbeer heard her and was
greatly interested in her, but even his
countenance, supported by Il favorable
debut in 1913, could not gain her an
engagement at the opera, and indeed
she had not the quality of voice or the
style to please the Partisan public, be-
fore whom she never appeared again.
Meyerbeer procured for her an engage
ment at Berlin, where she appeared in
IS45 as Norma, and began her distin-
guished career with noteworthy
triumph. She created the principal
role in Meyerbeer's "EtOile du NOrd'
in it's original form, which indeed the
composer wrote expressly for her, and
thereafter she made the tour of the
German cities, arOusing great enthusl-
asm everywhere, among musicians and
the public i'll general.
She made her debut in London as
Alice in "RObert le Diable" May 4,
I847, and took the town by storm. 1t
was there that she was given the title
of the Swedish nightingale. ChOrley
wrote that "since the days when the
world fought for hours at the pit-dOor
to see the seventh farewell of SiddOns,
nothing had been seen in the least APP
preaching the scenes at the entrance
of the theater when Mile Lind sang"
Prices rose to a fabulous hight, and la
dies of fortune and rank, unable to get
into the theateT, sat on the stairs on
the nights when she sang. In "Lucia
di LammermOor," L'Elisird' Amore,"
ola Figlia del ReggimentO" and ola
Vestale" she made an equal impression.
Those were the days of the Italian OPP
erals glory. But splendid as her
triumph was in this line, she closed her
operate career May IL, l949. During
her London success she was welcomed
into society and was as admired and
beloved there as on the stage. 1t was
rumored that there was an attachment
between her and Rev. Arthur Stanley,
afterward as dean of Westminster SO
well known to all the world and a re-
cent writer has quoted the late Sir Ju-
Illus Benedict as saying that they were
actually engaged, and that her aban
on his account, while she finally broke
the engagement lest such a connection
should prevent his preferment in the
church. 1t is certain that Dean Stan
ley and the singer were always friends
so long as he lived.
There yet lay before her an unequal
ed success in oratOriO and concert sing
ing, but that too was but for brief
period. She sang for season in Lon
don and made a tour in Ireland and
then at the hight of her fame and the
perfection of her voice, our great
American Snowman, p. L. Barnum,
brought her over to this country under
a contract to sing i'll $50 concerts. Mr..
Barnum, as often said, advertised her
like circus, and it may be added that
he also made money like a circus. He
has recently told how he worked up
the great sensation over the purchase
of the first ticket to her opening con-
cert at Castle Garden (Which was then
a theatre), by getting two merchants
to bid against each other at the auc-
ton until Genin the halter got it for
1928 and laid the foundation of a for
tune by it. Thousands were at the
dock to greet her at her landing
crowds blockaded Broadway before the
Irving house, where she stopped; a
torchlight procession of 800 firemen es-
corted band of 300 musicians who
serenaded her on her first night in the
city. The auction plan was followed
in other cities, and as high as 5000
was paid more than once for the first
ticket. This city manifested an en-
thusiasm never since shown for any
singer or actor. Crowds surrounded
the First church when she sang, and